


Gone

by icandrawamoth



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: X-Wing Series - Aaron Allston & Michael Stackpole, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crying, Destruction of Alderaan (Star Wars), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon, Gift Fic, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:46:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28041873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icandrawamoth/pseuds/icandrawamoth
Summary: Wedge delivers the news of Alderaan's destruction to a Tycho already with the Rebel Alliance and attempts to help him through the immediate aftermath.
Relationships: Wedge Antilles/Tycho Celchu
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7
Collections: Star Wars Rare Pairs 2020





	Gone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aphorisnt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aphorisnt/gifts).



> The fluff/angst balance tends heavily toward angst here, but there _is_ comfort. Hope you like!

The first thought Wedge has when he hears about the destruction of Alderaan is _shock._

The second is that he has to find Tycho.

He runs blindly through the base, swallowing his own bile at the horror and impossibility of it, searching for his wingmate and boyfriend. Everywhere, he sees other frightened faces, other shocked Rebels. No one seems to know what to do, the utter surprise of the news freezing them all.

“Where’s Tycho?” Wedge demands as soon as he makes it to the pilots’ lounge, voice harsher than he intended.

Confused faces turn to him. He doesn’t think these people know yet, but he can’t slow down long enough to tell them. All he can think of is what this news is going to do to Tycho, and he has to be there when he hears it.

“I saw him in line for one of the comm booths,” a woman in A-wing pilot green answers. “What’s going on, Antilles?”

“Turn on a holonews feed,” Wedge throws over his shoulder as he moves into the next room where the comm booths are.

Of course, he thinks, feeling ill now. Of course. It’s Tycho’s birthday. He had talked about comming home to talk to his family. Could he even have been talking to them at the moment it happened?

Wedge starts knocking on doors. “Tycho?” he asks anxiously at each one. He gets a few negatives, a few nonresponses, then finally a door opens.

“Wedge?” Tycho blinks at him, a sort of frustrated curl to his lip as he puts the comm receiver back in its cradle. “What is it?”

“Did you get through?” Wedge asks breathlessly, because suddenly it’s the only thing he can say. Please let Tycho have gotten to talk to his loved ones one last time.

“Yeah. Then the comm cut out.” The frustration evaporates in a laugh. “I do love teasing my dad about that. You’d think the head of a major communications network could keep a call stable.”

Wedge feels a physical sinking sensation. There’s no way that lost connection was a coincidence. And clearly his boyfriend doesn’t know.

“Tycho,” he says. “I need to tell you something.”

His tone makes Tycho frown. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Wedge steps forward and takes his hand. Tycho looks even more confused but lets him.

“You’re scaring me,” Tycho says, and Wedge wishes he didn’t have to do this. He wishes he didn’t have to see the look in Tycho’s eyes when the news hits. But he’d rather Tycho hear it from him.

“There’s no easy way to say this, love,” Wedge says, soft and reluctant. “Alderaan is gone.”

Tycho jerks his hand away. “What do you mean _gone_?”

Wedge holds up his hands as if to calm him, as if there’s anything he can do to soften this blow. “It was the Death Star. The Empire making an example.”

“No,” Tycho says, short and harsh. “They wouldn’t. They wouldn’t...”

He knows they would. Tycho flew at Scarif. Wedge remembers the revulsion in his eyes when he described the Death Star firing on the Citadel there. And before that, there was Jedha.

There’s a commotion from the lounge, and Tycho is off almost faster than Wedge can follow. Wedge finds him again frozen just inside the door. His own blood runs cold when he sees what caused the uproar. Someone has put on the holonews and it’s showing a recording of Alderaan being pierced by a green needle of light and exploding over and over again.

“It could be faked,” Tycho says numbly. “They have the technology.”

“Yes, but why?” Wedge asks, trying to balance his attention between the display and his boyfriend. The footage is so terrible and compelling, and Tycho is so pale. “That sort of lie would be disproven almost immediately. Tycho, this isn’t fake.”

Tycho’s face spasms an instant before he whirls and goes to his knees beside a trash bin, vomiting up his lunch in a series of violent heaves.

Biting his lip, Wedge kneels beside him, rubbing a gentle hand up and down his back. “I’m so sorry,” he murmurs.

Tycho stays there for what feels like a long time, head bowed, knuckles white on the edge of the bin. Then, suddenly, he jolts upright, wiping his mouth on his cuff and taking off again, nearly bowling Wedge over.

Again, Wedge follows, completely unwilling to leave him alone for even a moment, and finds Tycho scrambling back into the comm booth. Wedge crowds in with him, shutting the door behind him out of habit. He murmurs his boyfriend’s name as he scrambles at the console.

“I have to try,” Tycho mutters frantically. “Maybe – maybe it is a trick. Maybe it was just a malfunction. If I just-” He keeps stabbing at the keys, fingers shaking too badly to enter the code properly. He makes a frustrated sound and demands, “Wedge, help me.”

Wedge can think of nothing to do but follow the instruction. He inputs the code Tycho recites shakily for him, then they wait together.

An error beep. Not unusual, it can sound for any number of reasons, but now it feels like a death knell.

Tycho’s breath goes ragged and short, and his trembling increases. Wedge wraps his arms around him and holds him tight as if he can physically keep him from breaking apart.

“It’s true,” Tycho whispers. “It’s real. They’re all gone. It’s all gone.”

“I’m sorry,” Wedge says again. His stomach is cold with the horror of it, with the knowledge of how much more Tycho is hurting.

Tycho shakes his head slowly, gasping in breaths that abruptly turn to sobs. He collapses over the comm console, burying his head in his arms. Wedge goes with him, still holding him, trying to come up with anything that could be even a small comfort.

“Tycho, what can I do?” he asks, feeling helpless.

Tycho doesn’t even answer. His shoulders jerk up and down with force of his weeping, and Wedge clings to him, the simple comfort of presence all he can think to offer.

Wait. Simple comfort. “Tycho,” he says, sitting up a little, gently drawing his boyfriend with him. “Let’s go somewhere more comfortable, okay?”

“Like it makes any difference,” Tycho whimpers, his tone shattering Wedge’s heart.

“I know, dear heart. But at least let me hold you properly.”

Tycho sniffles and nods, tears still running down his face. Wedge finds his hand again and leads him out of the comm booth. The halls are silent, everyone gathered to watch the devastating news, and they meet no one as he leads the way to the pilot barracks.

When they arrive, Wedge gently nudges Tycho onto his own bunk, not trusting him to make the climb to upper one assigned to him in his current state. Tycho goes mindlessly, slumping onto his side and burying renewed sobs in Wedge’s pillow. Aching with the distress of seeing him like this, Wedge lays himself out next to the man he loves and slides close, drawing Tycho into his arms. Tycho buries his head under Wedge’s chin, clinging to him like he’s the only thing keeping him grounded.

“You’re all I have left now,” Tycho manages between tears, confirming it. “Don’t leave, Wedge. Please.”

“I’m not going anywhere, I promise.” Wedge pulls him even closer, presses a firm kiss to his forehead. “I love you.”

“Love you,” Tycho whimpers, and then words are lost to tears again.

They lay like that for what feels like hours, Tycho pouring out his shock and grief while Wedge does his best to support him. Eventually, Tycho quietens, and Wedge thinks he’s cried himself to sleep, but when he pulls back, Tycho is simply lying there, staring with glassy eyes.

When Wedge says his name, he barely blinks, sluggishly turning his gaze up to him. “I keep thinking of people and places I’ll never see again,” he whispers, voice ragged. “My mom and dad. My sisters. Skoloc. My grandparents. My old friends.” He shakes his head and blinks rapidly, one silent tear escaping. “I was just talking to them. I don’t understand it. And Alderaan is peaceful. We never would have – we weren’t a threat – we –”

Wedge doesn’t telling him it was an open secret that the royal family was supporting the Rebel Alliance. He doesn’t bother pointing out the attempt to terrify the galaxy into submission. He knows this pain can’t be stymied by logic.

“It was wrong,” Wedge murmurs, gently stroking Tycho’s temple. “More than wrong. Horrific. All those people-” He stops, knowing that line of thinking spoken aloud will upset Tycho more. “But we’re going to keep fighting them. We’re going to defeat them. We’re going to destroy the Death Star.”

“We have to,” Tycho says, utterly weary now. “Before they do this again.”

“We will.”

“I could do it myself,” Tycho says, the words as somber and passionless as his empty eyes. “I will. I’ll fly against that thing, and even if I die, it’ll be worth it to see it destroyed.”

“We’ll do what we can,” Wedge promises, praying it doesn’t come to that. He watches Tycho’s eyes flutter, a few more tears squeeze out. “You’re exhausted, my love. Why don’t you try to get some sleep?” _You can’t hurt like this while you’re asleep_.

Tycho doesn’t say anything, but his eyes close, and he rests his head against Wedge’s chest. Wedge smooths his hair, petting at it gently in a way he knows his boyfriend finds soothing. It’s the very least he can do.

The door to the barracks bangs open, startling both of them upright. “There you are!” cries a pilot from another squadron. “Everyone’s looking for you. There’s a briefing happening in a few minutes. They’ve brought the Death Star plans – there’s a weakness!”

Wedge looks at Tycho, watches a fire light in his eyes. “We’re going to destroy it,” Tycho says with certainty. He stands and offers Wedge a hand up.

Wedge takes it, uncertain at this sudden change in demeanor.

This new Tycho is here to stay. Wedge will never again see him exactly as he was today, bowled over and broken down by grief. In the days and weeks and months following his home planet’s destruction, Tycho will instead be consumed by anger, a driving vengeance to strike back at the Empire – and anyone else who gets in his way. It will be a drastic and startling change, one Wedge doesn’t know how to stop, one he doesn’t know is good. Eventually, he will realize it’s the only way Tycho saw to survive and wonder if he would have done the same.


End file.
